Jawbone fires back after Fitbit ends patent case

Fitbit celebrated the holiday this year by ending one of a number of suits filed against fellow fitness wearable manufacturer Jawbone. Even so, the legal war being waged between the two sides appears to be a long way from over.

In fact, Jawbone has issued its own filing this week that, naturally, accepts Fitbit’s motion to terminate the patent suit, while hitting back against the company’s decision to keep things going for as long as it did – and its stated justification for dropping.

Fitbit certainly didn’t pull any punches with its request last week The company essentially said it decided not to go forward with the suit due to some apparent serious financial woes in camp Jawbone, stating, “SEC filings of one of its biggest investors now value Jawbone shares as worth nothing, as well as indicate that Jawbone has filed for bankruptcy or is in default.”

At the time of the filing, Jawbone referred to the initial claims as “baseless,” and now the company’s gotten more specific in its own filing with the ITC. The document includes some choice cuts, including a defense against Fitbit’s claim that the company was essentially bankrupt.

[…] Fitbit calls into question the financial stability of Jawbone by relying on speculative press reports and third-party sources rather than any information directly from Jawbone. The publicly filed motion even goes so far as to assert that Jawbone has declared bankruptcy, despite the absence of any bankruptcy petition to cite and the fact that discovery obtained in this Investigation even in the last week is inconsistent with a company that has declared bankruptcy.

Jawbone’s lawyers go on to state that Fitbit had all of the info it needed to end the case months prior, but instead opted to solider on “to further burden Jawbone with this proceeding, including seeking all of the technical details of a prototype product.”

We’ve reached out to Fitbit for comment about this comment on the company’s comments.

Update: Fitbit has responded with comment,

As explained in a reply filed by Fitbit’s lawyers, Jawbone’s response is misleading as to the facts of the case and the facts supporting the motion to terminate. We also asked the ITC administrative law judge to strike Jawbone’s response or to let Fitbit publicly disclose those facts.